Once I ran for buses and climbed stairs two at a time to reach the top quicker. I don't do that any more. Gradually such activities ceased. I don't know exactly when.
Once I was like a jack-in-the-box. I would be working down at floor level and then I would leap up with no need to hold onto anything for support. It's not like that now. I need something to help me up. This has become painfully apparent over the last two weeks when I have been diligently decorating our front room. Sometimes I have been like a great sealion, floundering on the rocks, reaching out for the leg of the step ladder and a burst of energy. I fear I could end up lying there all night flapping my flippers while arrfing like a bull seal in distress.
I have to accept that when you are fast approaching seventy, it is unlikely that your body will function as it used to - when you were young. Back then it was like a purring vehicle that carried me along and did everything I required of it upon demand. But now it's a vintage car that is sometimes slow to start up and not everything works as well as it used to.
However, I guess I am lucky in that the only spectacles I have ever had to wear have been sun glasses. Especially in good light I can still read normal-sized text without any bother . And I have a full head of hair that contains hardly any grey. And I have few wrinkles. When you look at me you can easily still see the teenage boy I once was.
But I admit there is more of me than there used to be. I could do with losing a stone or two of seal blubber but I never get round to it. I have never dieted and I have always eaten whatever I want to eat, never thinking about portion sizes. Sometimes I think I will see what happens when I spend a week eating nothing but fruit and vegetables. Would the pounds slip away?
And would I once again become the lithe beach god I once was? Leaping up stairs, sprinting for buses, springing up from the painting of a skirting board like Zebedee in "The Magic Roundabout"? Somehow I don't think so.
Those days are gone.
I fully understand where you are coming from, for a while I thought it would all come back one day but have finally faced the fact that it won't, lol
ReplyDeleteWorse though it watching my kids going the same way, they are all in their 50's now, one of them almost 60 and they are getting little aches and pains that they now think will disappear. I won't disillusion them though. lol
Briony
x
You have the wisdom of age Briony but they probably won't listen
DeleteIt's an uncomfortable reckoning for sure. At 82+ I have had to give up playing goalee for my national soccer (futbol to you) team and I fear my days of ultra-marathons are next to go.
ReplyDeleteI guess you will just have to stick with the belly dancing and the trampolining.
DeleteI had to lay on the floor tonight because my back was so sore. I had a good stretch and did some gentle yoga which was all fine until I had to get up. Oy vey!
ReplyDeleteI never had to diet. I was always that skinny girl that could eat anything. Those days are gone for me as well. Getting old still beats the alternative though, until it doesn't.
Yes. I would rather have this than the cemetery.
DeleteI saw someone run up a set of stairs the other day and literally thought to myself, "How do they do that?"
ReplyDeleteThat used to be me... or someone who looked like me.
DeleteThere are losses, to be sure, but I have three grandchildren that I adore. I am retired. My time is my own. I can read long into the night if I have a mind to. Maybe we just move slower because we have no need to be dashing off.
ReplyDeleteYou are probably right Debby.
DeleteAh, the lost days of youth and flexibility. I miss them so. Although I can still get up off the floor without help, just slower. I also don't have a lot of facial wrinkles, but there's plenty around the elbows when I bend my arms, my hair has more grey than colour now, but I don't mind. I find I'm enjoying this slower time of life. I do wish those extra pounds would melt away though.
ReplyDeleteYou sound pretty comfortable in your own skin River. That's good.
DeleteI feel your pain. It's a bit of a shock, isn't it. I for one was of the "that will never happen to me" brigade.
ReplyDeleteI can't get in the bath, can't kneel and can't get down onto the floor without pain.
I could certainly do to lose a few stones.
Maybe we will both find the inspiration come the new year!
You go first Christina! I will follow.
DeleteYesterday I had to lie flat on my back on R's toilet floor (settle down children) to adjust the toilet seat. I was so careful not to strain my neck but bending over to adjust things at the top of the pan caused my back to protest strongly. Getting up from the floor was inelegant, to say the least. We have to adjust the way we do things to cater for age and fitness level.
ReplyDeleteYou can say that again cobber!
DeleteWe are maturing, like a fine wine,
ReplyDeleteOr a smelly cheese!
DeleteFrom what you tell us about your meals, your diet (not dieting) is wholesome; all home-cooked, not the over-processed convenience stuff people put in the microwave and believe they are „cooking“. Also, you walk a lot and do not take your car for even the shortest of distances. You are doing well, and do a lot more in terms of physical activities than many your age.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your kind reassurance ma'am.
DeleteThat all sounds very familiar to me apart from the weight bit....
ReplyDeleteHow is the damp patch investigation going?
No solution yet JayCee. It might be wet cavity wall insulation seeping through. But all the decorating is done apart from that corner. Very frustrating.
DeleteAs I approach 80 I have just decided that climbing onto roofs to replace the odd broken tile or two is now a job I will pay someone else to do.
ReplyDeleteThat sir is a wise decision.
DeleteI too, have reached the age when I think twice about getting anywhere near the floor - I wonder if I'll ever get up again.
ReplyDeleteAt our age, once you stop doing something, it either takes an age to get started again or you just give up!
When I lived in Fiji, the oldest men and women could sit crosslegged on the floor because they never stopped doing it.
DeleteI eat what I like and exercise regularly. However I need Lidl reading glasses and I'm going bald on top.
ReplyDeleteInvest in a wig Dave! Maybe one of those ginger Scottish ones with a tartan bonnet on top.
DeleteI was never that 'bouncy' to start with, and I've been in worse health/condition than I am now - but I still know what you mean... ;-)
ReplyDeleteIt's all the noises we make when getting up - grunting and groaning and maybe even farting! It should be an Olympic event - getting up off the floor.
DeleteIt's like you can read my mind, Neil! I was on my knees in the kitchen just a short while ago - wiping out the oven - and when it came time to get up, it took quite an effort to get myself off the floor. I grabbed for the counter but then had to use all my might to push up from the floor. Ugh! I felt old! I am over 70 after all! Ugh!
ReplyDeleteI am glad that our oven is not at floor level!
DeleteYou know, it was a miracle (literally) that I survived past childhood. With that said, I will not let these aches and pains and horrible eyesight and a couple of really awful surgeries lately get me down. I am still breathing.
ReplyDeleteHey PT! What happened to your blog sis?
DeleteTell me about it! When I squat down to get something from a low shelf in the supermarket I find I need to hold on to a shelf to press myself up again - my get-up-and-go has got up and gone!
ReplyDeleteI chuckled about your last remark ADDY!
DeleteIt is somehow reassuring to know that I am not the only one. Age has its wicked way with most of us.
ReplyDelete